Cameron Diaz: The Mask (1994)

It is hard to believe that as much time has passed that has since The Mask was released in 1994. I was only three years old. I remember watching this film as a 10-year old and being so in awe of Cameron Diaz. The Mask was Cameron’s first film and she was only 21-years old when she secured the part. Having never acted before, she immediately took acting lessons before filming commenced. Cameron plays Tina Carlyle, a singer at the Coco Bongo nightclub and girlfriend to gangster Dorian Tyrell (Peter Greene).Watching this film recently, I had forgotten that it was Cameron that played this part. Perhaps because when we think of her as an actress, we think of her being the rom-com, ‘girl next door’ type. She completely re-branded herself when she did Something About Mary (1998) and My Best Friends Wedding (1997).

The studio originally wanted Anna Nicole Smith to play the part, but she had already committed to filming TheNaked Gun: The Final Insult (1994) . They really wanted the part to be played by an overtly sexy, cartoonish, ‘pin up’ style actress. Preferably someone that audiences would recognise. Cameron was even reportedly asked if she would consider a breast enlargement for the role, which she quickly said no to. I think they got got lucky with Cameron. Not only is she outrageously beautiful, she still delivers on the sex-appeal that producers wanted for the part of Tina.

When we first see her, she is in a tight red dress with a thigh-high slit. Its a rather dramatic entrance with trumpets playing and a slo-mo hair shake. She sits and speaks with Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey) and is quickly established as ‘the girl to get’. It’s not until she removes her retro jacket (which is a bit bizarre), that you can truly appreciate how great she looks in this dress.

The second time we see Cameron, she is in a stripy black and white dress. This is perhaps the most memorable outfit of the film even though we only see her in it for such a short amount of time. Anyone else in this dress would be in serious danger of looking like a giant humbug, but she pulls it off so well. The monochrome stripes are very 90’s, and manage to make her look even taller and slimmer if at all possible. There is a constant theme with her clothing throughout a film as she wears lots on black, red and white, either in stripes or in a dogtooth pattern.

In a later scene, she performs on stage in a sequin mini dress with spaghetti straps and a cross-back. Cameron has such an athletic figure that such a petite dress would seem difficult to pull off, yet she does it so well. It is SO short. So short, that if you actually look at the bottom of the dress, the last two inches of the hem are only tassels. Her legs seem to go on forever, as dances and spins around the room with Carrey. I am not sure who is singing in the voice over for Cameron, as she has always made it publicly known that she cannot sing and has an awful voice.

In her final scene, Tina (Cameron) is finally rid of her awful gangster boyfriend and is free to be with Stanley (Jim Carrey). She is dressed in a black and red, velvet structured dress with sheer sleeves. Her make up throughout the entire film is always very subtle on the eyes, but her lips are usually heavily lined in nude with a hint of red. Here, they decided to go all out and use a vibrant red on her lips. The entire outfit is very sexy, without showing hardly any skin.